Candidate Wants End To `Corporate Welfare'

October 26, 1995|By JOHN SPRINGER; Courant Staff Writer

BRISTOL — Attracting new employers and retaining existing ones is a major priority for all three candidates for mayor, but independent hopeful Richard ``Rick'' Kriscenski feels recent efforts have been misguided and ineffective.

``When has it been the role of government to hand money to businesses? Businesses should be going to the private sector for those funds,'' said Kriscenski, 35, who quit his marketing job this spring to run for mayor.

Kriscenski, a registered Democrat running on A Reform Party line, has centered his campaign on what he calls the ``corporate welfare'' issue. He objects to the practice of awarding cash grants and low-interest loans to companies interested in expanding or relocating to Bristol.

Since the city began its economic development program in 1992, about $2 million has gone to firms in the form of gifts and loans.

Officials have defended the practice as a way of creating jobs in the short-term and increasing the tax base over many years. Kriscenski said the money would be better spent on improving city schools, parks, roads and other things that would make Bristol more attractive to companies.

``Tax dollars should go toward generating public investment, in the city itself for education and infrastructure. By putting the tax dollars in those investments, it allows the business community to grow because it gives them a foundation,'' he said.

Kriscenski said that if the city invested $2 million on an ice-skating rink, for example, it would help revitalize downtown, create jobs and give children something constructive to occupy their time.

``We're giving a million dollars away to businesses and the sidewalks are crumbling under our feet,'' he said.

A lifelong Bristol resident, Kriscenski graduated from Bristol Central High School in 1977 and Central Connecticut State University in 1982. He holds a degree in business administration.

Kriscenski, married and the father of two, operates his low-budget campaign out of a storefront on Main Street that he rents for $250 a month. Estimating that he will spend just $1,500 on the race against Democratic Mayor Frank Nicastro Sr. and Republican George ``Whit'' Betts, Kriscenski doesn't consider himself a long-shot candidate.

``I don't feel like a long shot. I think what I have been saying in the campaign is the type of message the people of Bristol like to hear,'' he said. ``You work hard, you pay your taxes and you don't get any breaks . . . but your hard-earned taxes are going to a select few businesses.''